I'm Alone
by Shadow of Midnight
Summary: Neji has been alone his whole life. When his curse seal is activated, will his cousin help or just stand by and watch? NejiTen
1. Chapter 1

Two black-haired children, a boy and a girl, walked down the hallway of the Hyuuga training ground

Two black-haired children, a boy and a girl, walked down the hallway of the Hyuuga training ground. One headed away and the other toward. The boy stopped as he drew even with the girl, it was he who was walking away. The girl stopped also. He spoke and it was with tones of scornful respect.

"Hinata-sama," he bowed mockingly, "do you need me to save you today? Or die for you or just let you activate this seal on some false pretence? That's what your side of the family does." she looked earnestly at him.

"Brother Neji, I'm sorry you have that seal. I would never activate it, ever. I wouldn't make you die for me; it's your life. I want to be friends not enemies; you are not my inferior despite that seal. Main Family, Branch Family, it doesn't matter to me." he untied the headband from around his head. The curse seal showed vividly against his skin.

"Friends, Hinata-sama? It is not my destiny to have friends, I'm alone. This seal that your father engraved upon my forehead at your third birthday made sure of that." His voice had gotten louder. A Main Family member walked from the training grounds to watch the argument. He stood quietly and watched the cousins argue.

"You don't have to be alone. That's what I keep saying, Neji. You can have friends." He shook his head.

"With this?" he gestured to the curse seal, "You're defiantly not from the Branch Family. You'd try to make me die to save your skin."

The watching Hyuuga interposed, "Aren't you Hizashi's boy? Branch Family of course. Just like your worthless father was. You realize that Hinata is from the Main Family and you deserve to be punished for speaking that way?" dark anger enveloped Neji's pale white eyes. He raised a fist toward the watcher and pivoted toward him, his eyes filled with hatred. The man formed a few quick hand signs. Hinata flinched; she knew instinctively that something bad was about to happen.

**So, what do you think? One review and I post the next chapter… The next should be longer.**


	2. Chapter 2

I got a review

**I got a review!! Yay!**

A scream of pure agony pierced the still, quiet air. Neji fell to the ground twisting around in pain. His headband fell from his hand and spun away. He clutched at his forehead and curled into the fetal position as waves of torture shot through him from his head. He bit down hard on his lip in an attempt to stop from breaking down until the blood ran down the side of his face and dripped off his chin onto the floor. It puddled under his head and drops flew around him as he thrashed about in anguish. His head hit hard against the floor and he began bleeding from just above his eye as well. It dripped down and wet the top of his head with warm, sticky blood. Hinata screamed also in terror for her cousin. She had known him all her life and she had never heard him cry out like that, with that much pain audible in his voice.

"Stop it! He didn't do anything to you! Stop it! Stop torturing him!" the man stood still. His eyes watched Neji writhe on the ground with what seemed like enjoyment. Hinata jumped forward. The man raised his hand threateningly. Hinata shrunk back in fear; she was still timid and anxious. The man turned away from her to continue to watch her cousin.

Neji gathered himself together for an instant to look up at her with his face agonized and bloody from his split lip. It seemed to last for an age and it was a moment Hinata would never forget. The entire world seemed still and silent, as though it had hushed it's day-to-day racket to honor his suffering. There was desperate appeal in his usually haughty and cold eyes. They were like the pleading eyes of an animal in pain that dumbly begs for release. "Please," he said in a broken, tortured voice. "Please," The man chuckled harshly. Then the moment of stillness was over. A spasm of pain caused him to break eye contact. He cried out in pain again. He sank down on his hands and knees again. His hair hid his eyes but Hinata could see them in her mind. The fear in them, she was sure, would haunt her until the day that she died. That noise of agony decided Hinata. She called upon bravery she didn't know she had to lunge forward again with more determination. She had to protect her cousin when he looked at her with that pleading, despairing, hopeless expression on his face. His convulsions were growing weaker but the pain he suffered under did not appear to be diminishing. His strength was steadily decreasing as he lost blood.

"De-activate that seal! Now! How can you be doing that to him? Look at him, you already hurt him enough, now stop it!" she was almost in tears herself. The man shook his head in slight amusement.

"This isn't about his treatment of you, Hinata. I'm in control now. You're too young to know how to end it for him." Neji still thrashed about on the stone floor. "I'm getting slightly tired of his yelling. I might just end it forever."

"No!" Hinata yelled, "don't kill him!" the man considered her for a few seconds. The waves of pain were becoming more intense. Neji would gather himself together and then another would roll in to crush his reconstructed emotional grip. He knew if it continued for much longer something would have to give, his body, his mind, his sprit. One of them would be broken forever. The man sighed and formed another few seals. Neji stopped writhing and started shaking softly. He sank from his hands and knees to on his back shielding his head weakly with his arms. His long hair, wet with his blood, fanned out around him and almost covered his face. He feebly tried to move away from his tormentor but was unable even to move that much. His breathing came rapidly.

"Because you wanted it so, little girl, I stopped it. But next time the Branch Family brat might not be so lucky. Maybe this will have taught him to mind his manners with the Main Family." He walked away with out a backward glance. Hinata dropped to her knees beside her cousin. His lip was still bleeding steadily. A trickle of blood ran down the side of his face from his lip and from the gash over one eye where he had hit it as he thrashed in pain. She put a hand over his forehead. The curse seal still was warm as though it had been scalding hot a moment ago. It pulsed slightly under her fingers. He winced as he felt her hand on the mark. His forehead was sweaty and his temperature seemed to be above normal. She lifted his head up and looked at him. His eyes were half closed and he flinched as he spoke.

"Hi-Hinata-sama, do you understand what I mean now? My destiny is to be a slave to the Main Family and to serve well or else. This is the power of the curse seal." His eyes went blank and closed fully. He sagged limply in her arms as he lost consciousness. She yelled for help and then the world went black for her too.

**Same as last time. One review, one chapter. 2 reviews, 2 chapters. Oh yeah, I don't own anything except for my laptop, some clothes and the idea for this story. So don't sue me. **


	3. Chapter 3

Hinata came round a few seconds later; three Main Family members were bending over her and trying to revive her

Hinata came round a few seconds later; three Main Family members were bending over her and trying to revive her. Neji still lay unconscious and unattended. Alone indeed, thought Hinata sadly, they won't help him even if he might be dead. She sat up.

"Neji! Take care of him first, he needs it!" she yelled as she pushed them away. "Where's a medical ninja?" a medic came and took charge. It was a Branch Family doctor, Hinata could tell from the fact that they wore a strip of cloth wound around their forehead. She was glad; a Branch Family member wouldn't treat Neji like an inferior. With her cousin in the state he was in he needed the best care he could get. He brought a stretcher and lifted Neji on to it gently. They carried the stretcher along to the hospital. They carefully eased Neji off of it and onto the bed. Hinata had followed them in a kind of shock. _This is my fault; if I hadn't fought with him it wouldn't have happened. _She was wracked by pangs of guilt. She squeezed her hands into fists. A sharp pain met her fingers, she was holding Neji's headband that she had picked up from the floor. She closed her eyes to avoid looking at Neji's still face. His voice when he had begged for mercy echoed in her ears and his tortured face swam before her eyes. She opened them again and stared at Neji as the doctor poured chakra into him. His lip and the cut on his forehead closed up and he began to breathe easier.

"Now, what was going on?" the doctor was talking. It appeared he didn't know the nature of the problem.

"I was arguing with him about his refusal to try to be happy and then another Main Family member came and said something about Neji's father. He got mad and was about to attack the man when he had the seal activated. He had about a minute and a half of it; he lost consciousness when it ended. The cut on his forehead is from hitting his head during his convulsions. The cut on his lip is from him biting it to not cry out. It didn't work, he was screaming in agony. It was horrible." Hinata let the words pour from her; it was a relief to tell someone. The doctor looked shocked.

"That _boy_," he stressed the word, "is too young to have that happen to him. Minute and a half you say?" Hinata nodded. "That much could kill him. I assume this is his first time with it active?" she nodded again, "yes, with one so young the pain of activation could be fatal. Also a minute and a half can ruin his brain forever even if he makes it. Though at this point we think he'll make it. He responds well to the chakra we're putting into him. These next few hours will determine everything, for better or for worse. His life hangs in the balance and the best you can do is hope. Though sometimes when someone has been tortured hope is not enough to save them. Torture victims always have trauma afterwards even if they survive. I don't want to be a pessimist but his chances of coming out unscathed are very low."

Hinata sank into a chair next to Neji. She pressed his hand hard and blinked as tears forced their way from her eyes. Neji's face still had some of the lines of pain visible on it though they were being obliterated by restful sleep. Or maybe it was because he was dying, dead people always looked calm. Hinata had heard that somewhere. _No! I won't even think that, he won't die, he can't die! That seal… _she stared at her cousin's forehead. She leaned over him and looked at his face. A tear ran down her cheek and landed on the tip of his nose where it hung quivering. She wiped it away gently with her sleeve. She was careful not to touch his rapidly healing lip. There was blood on his face from when he had pierced his lip in his agony. She took a handkerchief out of her pocket and wiped it away. He responded feebly to her touch, he moaned and moved slightly. Hinata watched him, hardly daring to breathe lest she disturb him. For the next 12 minutes he remained motionless. She could hardly see him breathe. Then with a flutter of his eyelids he spoke and although it was a relief for him to be talking it was also alarming in how unlike his usual manner of speech he tried to talk. His voice, where before it had happened had been confident and arrogant was now frightened and cautious as if any little shock would cost him his life.

"Where am I? What's going on?" he moved a shaky hand to his forehead. Hinata laid her hand over his worriedly.

"You're in the hospital. You passed out after he deactivated the curse seal. I got a medical team and they brought you here. The doctor didn't know if you would make it. I didn't know what to think, I didn't know if you were going to die…" her voice cracked. She pulled both her hands up to her face and sobbed. He looked at her from under his half-closed eyelids. He still looked calm but some of the terror had returned. She got a grip on herself and stopped crying. His hand went again to his forehead and he tentatively felt the curse seal. It felt normal under his fingers. Hinata stopped him when his hand got too close to the wound. She explained in more detail what had happened after he lost consciousness. When she moved her hands together as was her habit panic transformed his face. He cringed back like a beaten dog. His eyes, normally defiant, suddenly held mistrust, suspicion and raw terror. He was like a small child. He looked weak and vulnerable as he lay on his back on the clean white hospital sheets. The change from the normal, confident Neji was pitiable. In minutes he had turned from someone who was never scared or emotional to someone who cowered in a constant state of alarm. She moved her hands apart. Hinata put her hands down and spoke reassuringly to him like she did to Akamaru when he was scared.

"Neji, I'm sorry I did that. Its alright, I won't let something like that happen to you again." She started crying again, "How can you ever forgive me? It's all my fault that this happened and I couldn't stop it. I was powerless, you were being tortured and I couldn't help you at all. All I can do now is try to help you heal again as best I can. Don't be afraid, I won't do that anymore. I'll just go tell those who need to know that you're "sick". Is that good?" he nodded feebly. She made a list on one hand while keeping the other down so that she didn't scare him again. "Master Guy, Kurenai-sensei, father, Hanabi, Tenten, Lee, Shino, Kiba. That's it." He looked confused and cautious.

"My team I understand and I even understand your father as he's the head of the family but Kiba, Shino and Kurenai-sensei?" she smiled slightly at this.

"I'm gonna take care of you. Of course. So I'm probably going to have to skip some training. Doesn't that explain it for you?" he looked slightly angry.

"I don't need a Main Family baby sitter or protector. I'm alone, I already told you that. My life is of no importance to anyone at all. You're a Main Family member; I'm inferior to your part of the family. That's why I bear this." His hand jerked up to his forehead. She shook her head but decided to not push it.

She walked out to tell the appropriate people. First she found Master Guy and asked him to tell Lee and Tenten. All she told him was that Neji was very sick and she was going to take care of him. He was concerned and hoped that Neji would recover soon. He promised to pass the message along to Tenten and Lee. Then she found her sensei. Kurenai understood what had happened, Hinata broke down and told her everything.

"He didn't do anything and that man _tortured_ him ruthlessly until he almost died. He only said one thing while it was active. He said 'please, please' like he was begging for mercy. Or like he was begging for help. I was standing there paralyzed with fear. All the man did was laugh." She sobbed again and again. Her teacher patted her on the back until she regained her calm. Then Hinata determined to get back to Neji's bedside. Who knew how he could be doing. She flew back like she had wings on her feet. At the door of the hospital the doctor met her with the news that Neji was much better and might be able to go home even though he would still have to be bedridden. She slowed her pace so as not to alarm him as she went in. He was laying still but glancing around nervously. It was obvious that this encounter had scarred him emotionally. Hinata didn't know when those scars would heal. The doctor pulled her aside into another room where Neji couldn't hear them.

**Cliffy… Review please. **


	4. Chapter 4

"The boy you brought in, he's your cousin correct

"The boy you brought in, he's your cousin correct?"

"Yes, his father was my father's younger brother."

"He's from the Branch Family and you're from the Main Family right?" again, Hinata answered in the affirmative. "He is still in a bad condition. He'll live, almost defiantly and his brain appears to be mostly intact but the good news ends there." Hinata made as if to move her hands together but stopped.

"It scares him." She said in response to the doctor's quizzical gaze.

"That's what I mean." He responded grimly. Hinata's eyes were puzzled. He continued. "I don't know the amount of physiological damage to him. I moved my hands together while I was examining his head injury, which is nothing serious by the way, and he panicked. Cringed back like a beaten dog." She looked worried still.

"What do you mean by physiological damage? Is it bad?"

He looked unsure of how to put it. "Physiological damage is damage to his mind but not in ways we can heal in a hospital. If you are bitten severely by a dog you might be permanently terrified of dogs. If you have that seal activated then maybe he will be terrified of hand signs his entire life. Not to mention that man and anyone else who might activate it. He might be frightened of all Main Family members for the rest of his life. The next few weeks will determine that. It might fade and leave just a little behind. Perhaps a phobia of Main Family members making hand signs… we can't tell." She looked shocked.

"A phobia of all hand signs? Just how bad is it being activated?" the doctor looked grimly amused.

"It's like nothing else. It is the most painful thing you've ever experienced in your life magnified by a hundred. I've heard it feels like a burning coal has been applied to your forehead. Every moment it spreads a little until your whole body is consumed by a fire that makes you wish for death. And the pain goes on and on with out fading. In fact, it gets worse each second. That is what that man did to your cousin. Now he is terrified of everything, jumping like a nervous hare. We need to get him to a more comfortable place where he can heal with out stress and fear. The terror alone that he's experiencing could be extremely brutal." Hinata realized what he meant immediately.

"Should I take care of him? I think I owe it to him, I mean, its all my fault…" the doctor bit his lip.

"Hmmm, that might be advisable. He knows you and if you're sincere then after some time he'll trust you. I would be careful about new people though. That includes people he already knows. From now until the emotional wounds have healed imagine everything through his angle, that all acquaintances could activate it, whether or not they actually could, and make him experience that torture again. For him that has poisoned all his confidence and shattered his normal self." They walked back into the room where Neji lay. The moment he heard them he jerked his head around and looked at them through a haze of terror. He relaxed when he recognized who they were. The doctor went straight to the point.

"We thought you might be more comfortable in your own room. Also we might need these rooms for other patients in need such as you were. We are going to bring in the stretcher carriers. We'll put you on one and bring you to your own regular surroundings. Another thing, your cousin has volunteered to nurse you until you are better so she will be going with you. Please, stay still!" Neji had moved as if to sit up in protest. "What's the matter?" the boy turned to look at Hinata with eyes filled with a mixture of panic and resentment. "Is it that she will be taking care of you?" he nodded and winced slightly. "I believe that you will be far more comfortable with her than with a nurse. And whatever you say you do need someone to watch you until you get better. I will take no objections at all. The stretcher bearers will be here in minutes. Please lie still until they get here."

The few minutes until the carriers arrived were tense and awkward. Hinata had moved to the side of his bed and bit her lip as she looked at him. The moment when he had lifted his head to look beggingly at her flashed before her eyes. The way he looked, bleeding and despairing. Like something had broken inside of him. When they entered it was a relief for everyone. They expertly lifted Neji and placed him comfortably. The procession wound its way to the Branch Family quarters where Neji lived. They moved up stairs to the top rooms. The door that they had been directed to was the last one. Hinata moved slightly ahead of the others to open it. She paused in the doorway, she had never been in there and it was nothing like what she had expected.


	5. Chapter 5

A simple, small room met her eyes

A simple, small room met her eyes. The walls were painted a uniform white and the windows had old white curtains on them. There was nothing personal anywhere except in a picture of his father on a table. Apart from that it could have been anyone's room. Even his kunai and shuriken were in neat pouches hung by the door. The bed was neatly made and the whole room was excessively clean. They gingerly carried him in and eased him onto the bed. The doctor stayed a little longer to advise Hinata what he would need.

"Normal food and water and a lot of rest. Also if you think that his forehead is not healing treat it like you would for any other injuries. Light or darkness is his preference but let him sleep and don't open windows when he is still sleeping. Absolutely no surprises or shocks, his condition is too fragile to stand them. Fresh air should be given when he recovers a little more. Do you think you can do that? In a week I'll come and see how he's doing then." Hinata thanked him with tears in her eyes. He patted her on the back and walked out to leave her alone with her patient.

Neji lay on his bed above the covers with his head on the pillow. His hair was beginning to fall out of its tieback. He moved his arm a little and pulled the tie out of it. She moved to the windows and looked out. It was mid morning and the sun shone down on the forest. A bird rose from a tree and winged its way across the sky past the clouds. Hinata pulled her mind out of the clouds to get back to her duties.

"Neji," he looked up with a momentary flash of suspicion that faded so quickly that she couldn't be sure it was there, "do you want the window open or closed?" he looked out and squinted up higher into the sky.

"Open." He said with slightly bad humor. His right eye still had blood around it. He moved his hand up to wipe it away. The blood that had seeped into his hair had now stained the pillow. A red splotch blossomed around his head. His arm jerked slightly and he made a slight movement of pain. She rushed to the bed. With one hand she gently put a little pressure on his arm so he didn't keep moving it and hurting himself and with the other she pulled her handkerchief out. Spying a sink near by she wet it. She wrung the excess water out of it quickly. Carefully, she wiped away the dried blood from around his eye. She washed the handkerchief out in the sink. She moved a chair back to her patient and sat down. She looked puzzled as she gazed down on him. A small tear had appeared in the corner of his eye. Hinata was nervous that she had injured him further.

"Neji, are you okay? Did I do something to hurt you? Do I need to stop fussing and leave you alone for a moment?" the one tear became a pair and multiplied until a dozen were dripping down his face. They turned pink from the blood she hadn't cleaned away and he winced when they touched his still tender lip.

"No one ever cared before…" his voice was cracked and almost in a whisper, "no one ever cared whether I lived or died. And now, having someone who cares enough to stay with me when I'm like this… it's almost to much to be true." A tear came to her eye as she thought of the sorrow in his voice and she tried to blink it away.

"That's what families are for. To take care of each other when you need it. Just because someone, before we were born, decided that the second child would be subservient to the first doesn't mean that you're not my family. Doesn't mean I won't look after you when you need it." She forced a smile and quickly turned away ostensibly to make him food but more to hide her tears that underneath the rough exterior her cousin was just lonely.

The first night was the toughest for both of them. Hinata slept lightly almost all night until 2 am when she fell into a deeper, dreamless slumber. Neji had a hard night too.

He was in a dark place. He didn't know where he was but somehow he could see his shadow on the wall. It flickered and became Hinata.

"Neji, are you okay?" it asked. He moved toward it only for it to become the Main Family member who had activated the seal. He laughed hard and coldly as he watched Neji shrink back. Then it split. It held Hinata by the arm and she was crying out to him for help. He tried to reach her only it felt like he was moving through mud. Then the man released Hinata and raised both his hands toward Neji. The pain seemed to be tearing him apart. The pain that he would never become used to, that would be seared into his mind forever. The pain that had almost cost him his life. He screamed again and again in torment. The man's laughing face swam before his eyes as he cried out.

From deep in her sleep Hinata heard someone yelling. She had only heard yells like that twice in her life, the first time when her uncle's curse seal was activated and the second time only yesterday when she had seen Neji's active. Neji. She sat up on the floor of her cousin's room. She pushed back the thin sheet that had covered her and sprang up. She had been right; it was Neji screaming. He clutched at his forehead as he tangled in the bedclothes. He seemed to be in no small amount of pain from his nightmare. She could guess what it was about. It was the same tortured scream she had heard yesterday when he had experienced the ultimate power source of the Main Family. She put a hand on his forehead and gently pried his hands away. He kept screaming but began to quiet.

"Neji, wake up. You need to wake up." Her words came through to him with almost no clarity at all. "It's a nightmare, just a nightmare. Wake up." He woke up moments later sweating and breathing like he had been running. She put a hand gently over his eyes and lit a candle. His frightened face showed pale in the soft light of the candle. The shadows made him seem even more fragile and breakable.

"I'm pathetic aren't I?" his bitter snort startled Hinata slightly. "A nightmare terrifies me and I yell loud enough to wake you." She looked down at him with sympathy for him and his fear in her eyes.

"If you wake up screaming because you had a dream involving reliving a living nightmare where a man tortured you to the brink of death I'd say you had a pretty good reason. Don't beat yourself up about it, its no big deal. Do you want me to wake you up if I hear you having that nightmare again? It wouldn't be a problem at all. I owe you whatever I can do to help." He hesitated for a moment before nodding.

The early morning passed uneventfully. Hinata's father came to see how Hinata held up under the strain of nursing. The whole time he was there he never looked at Neji. He spoke of the inconvenience of nursing and suggested she go home which she strenuously refused. He never even mentioned Neji or enquired about his health. For all he cared Hinata had decided to nurse a doll instead of her cousin and his nephew. Hinata and Neji were both relieved when after a few minutes he left. Her relief was short lived when, only a short while later there came another knock on the door. They exchanged a glance of infinite patience.

"If it's Hanabi should I slam the door in her face?" Hinata asked. Now that Neji appeared to be doing better she was bolder and more cheerful. Neji grinned.

"Slam away if it's her. Sorry but I don't especially like your sister." She walked to the door and opened it a crack. She peered through the aperture to see who stood out side. A change stole over her face.

**Who could it be? Hmmmm, who do you think it is? **


	6. Chapter 6

"Come in

"Come in. He'll be happy to see you Tenten-san. He needs to be kept quiet and still but please come in." she opened the door wider to admit Tenten. She was as nervous as Hinata had been. Her eyes widened when she saw Neji lying on the bed on his back. There were still the two cuts on his face that, although largely healed still showed and her eyes took this in in seconds. Then she noticed that his headband was off and there was _something_ engraved on his forehead. She looked frightened and anxious for him. Her hands curled and uncurled. Hinata watched Tenten's hands nervously.

"What, what is that?" she whispered, "on your forehead." he put a shaky hand to it and pulled some of his hair over it.

"Nothing Tenten. Its nothing at all." His eyes apologized to Hinata for the lie. He didn't want to scare Tenten by telling her the real truth about the curse seal. She looked convinced and turned from the curse seal to asking him how he was feeling. As she heard that he had been in the hospital after he passed out she moved her hands together. Hinata moved in front of her right in the nick of time. Neji didn't see what Tenten did. She turned to Tenten and whispered quietly to her.

"Don't do that around Neji. It terrifies him absolutely. It's almost a paralyzing phobia right now." Tenten seemed curious so Hinata pulled her hands apart and stepped aside. She dropped to Neji's side and whispered to him quickly.

"Do you mind if I tell her the truth? She should know about what happened especially if you go back to training and she makes a hand gesture. I don't want something like that to happen. The shock alone might be really bad, and that's not counting the fear and stress." he looked hesitant and looked at Tenten as she watched them with her head on one side. He snorted lightly. The snort turned into a gasp of pain.

"Well, what have I got to lose? Tell her not to do the "I'm-so-sorry-for-you" type of sympathy, I can't stand that." Hinata stood up straight. She stepped back from Neji and over to Tenten. She held her arm and steered her into the other room.

"Hinata? What's going on? Why is he so scared of me having my hands together? What did he think was going to happen to him? What was that on his forehead that he didn't want me to know about? Can you tell me, please?" Hinata moved to the window. She gazed out at a bird that flew alone. She turned to Tenten and smiled ruefully. In the minimum amount of words she explained what the seal was. She ended by telling her about the activation that had left him broken and frightened. A few tears appeared in Tenten's brown eyes as well as in Hinata's pale white ones. They both wiped them away feeling foolish. Tenten moved toward the doorway back into Neji's room. Hinata again stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

"There's one more thing."

"What? What is it?"

"You know Neji. He says he doesn't want sympathy from you. He hated that I was going to nurse him at first, it took a long time to make him confident around me and he still gets frightened when I do that. I let him have his own way since he's so ill. He is a really headstrong person. I know he gets it from his father. My uncle was exactly the same way about things like this. Just be careful around him, he's still very delicate even though he'll defiantly live. I know I'm worrying to much about him but he really almost died and I don't want him to die for real." Tenten nodded her approval. When she walked to the doorway again Hinata did not stop her. Instead she followed her back into Neji's room. His eyes had the suspicion Hinata had become used to but with out the customary fear. It seemed he knew they wouldn't hurt him and he was sure he could trust them when he was in trouble. Tenten opened her mouth to say something then bit her lip. She had almost said something sympathetic and she had stopped it just in time. To diffuse the awkwardness Hinata began to ask hurriedly about food. Neji wasn't hungry and Hinata was worried about that. He hadn't eaten since he had been brought to the hospital and it had been a whole day since then. Whenever she offered him food he looked distrustful and refused. Tenten added her entreaties to those of Hinata and together they managed, by a mixture of bribing and insisting, to get him to eat a slice of apple and a glass of water. After the immense effort they had put into making him consume even that small amount of food both Tenten and Hinata felt the need for a slight rest. They sat down on the edge of the bed while Neji moved slightly back into a more comfortable position.

"Tenten," said Hinata jokingly, "why don't you spend the night here? If we keep up the pressure then at some point he has to eat the food he needs and also we really should take turns staying up to watch him through the night to watch for those nightmares that I told you about. C'mon. Say that you'll stay, and Neji would like it too, wouldn't you Neji?" she turned to him. Tenten stifled a giggle. Neji was asleep, nervously curled into a tight ball with his arms crossed protectively across his chest. "Well, he will be glad when he wakes up but we'll have to be extremely careful not to spring it on him. The doctor said to avoid shock at any cost. Just stay here and it will be good." Neji woke up an hour later at 3:30 with Hinata holding a plate of food above him. He twitched slightly in fear as he saw then standing above him and was confused by Tenten's presence. Only when Hinata explained carefully did he relax at all. He shakily, with what looked suspiciously like repressed pain, began to straighten himself out. Instantly Hinata and Tenten put down what they were holding and helped him. He looked resentfully at the two of them as they stood helpfully at his side. Apparently even when he had nearly died he still didn't want to accept help and especially not from his female Main Family cousin or from his concerned teammate.

"Food, Neji? You need to eat and we made it for you." Hinata picked the plate of food back up and held it hopefully.

"I'm not hungry." He spoke with a listless air as his hands played nervously with his headband that had been lying next to the picture of his father on the bedside table. "I never realized how small this room is. It feels like it's crushing me and I can't breathe. I feel trapped, completely cornered. I couldn't run away if something bad happened. I need to be able to get away." Hinata sighed. His fear was sad. He had been so confident before and now he felt the need for an escape route.

"Are you a little better then you were?" Hinata put the food down on a table again, "we could take you out side but then you have to eat a little more. That's the deal, take it or leave it." He looked annoyed but agreed grudgingly and ate the food. Hinata carried a comfortable chair out onto the little balcony. She put a blanket over it and angled it toward the setting sun. Then she walked back inside to figure out how to get Neji out there with out hurting him. Tenten had thought of an idea that sounded promising to her while Hinata was setting up the chair. Hinata was eager to hear it.

"Hinata," she said, "how about we have him put his arms around our shoulders and support him as he tries to walk out. You wouldn't like to be carried right, Neji?" he looked as indignant as you can look while laying helplessly on your back being taken care of since you can not walk with out hurting yourself.

"Of course not. I can just walk on my own." He sat up quickly then doubled over holding his head. He slowly swung his legs over the side of the bed and ignoring their protestations pushed himself upright. For one moment he stood independently then he crumpled into sitting with his back against the bed. Tenten's hands jerked up to her mouth. Hinata tried to block Neji from seeing but it was too late. Instantly, he shrank back against the bed and sheltered his head in his arms and drew his knees into his chest to protect himself from the pain he anticipated and dreaded. He trembled violently and Hinata could hear his panicked breathing as he curled up in fear. Tenten and Hinata dropped to their knees alongside him. Tenten hugged him softly and started crying.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. Why did I do that? I wouldn't ever activate it, I couldn't even activate it. I never meant to remind you of an experience that painful. Calm down. It's ok." His frightened eyes peered out from in between his arms and he gradually loosened his grip on himself and sat normally.

"Do you still want to go out?" asked Hinata, "or do you want us to help you back into your bed?" he glared at her with an expression unique to him, a sort of defiant servitude with the hint of contempt.

"Of course I want to go out still. And I can walk myself out there." He tried to stand up but couldn't. They gently lifted him up by his arms and draped them around their shoulders. In the end they wound up more dragging him out, he was much taller then either of them, than walking him but they got him out in the end. He helpfully tried to walk but could barely move his legs. When they got him into the chair he sank down into it in exhaustion. Hinata pulled two smaller chairs out also and they sat by him. Tenten draped the blanket around his shoulders and he gratefully pulled it closer. The evening wind blew in all of their faces as they watched the sunset. The two girls on their chairs attentively taking care of the boy who almost crouched in fear in the bigger chair made a pretty picture. Tenten didn't know how long they sat there, almost completely still when the darkness betrayed the lateness of the hour. With many complaints and grumblings Neji allowed them to help him inside again. Carefully they eased him onto the bed and he settled himself down for the night. With the usual objections they persuaded him to drink a glass of water before he fell asleep. Hinata procured another set of sheets and made Tenten a bed on the floor as well. Then the midnight moon shone in on three still slumbering figures. At three in the morning everything was silent and calm.

Neji was back in the dark room. He walked down the hallway as he heard his footsteps slap against the floor. His shadow danced on the wall. He was hurrying but for what he didn't know. This is a dream, he thought to himself, just a dream. Wake up. He turned to face the wall and his shadow. Just as before it became Hinata.

"Neji, are you okay?" it asked in the same way as before. Again he moved toward it and again it transformed before splitting into two. But it was three, now Tenten had joined Hinata in the dream. They begged for him to help them and he found himself moving toward them slowly. The man released them and smiled maliciously at Neji. He made the same hand seals and Neji fell. Hinata and Tenten disappeared but he barely noticed. It was only him and the man, just them and the terrible, unbearable pain in his head. He found himself wishing for death, anything for this to end. The man chuckled and watched him. Then the man started to shake him, the pain in his head got even worse.

"Stop it, please, just stop. I'll do anything." He mumbled as the pain got worse. Tenten had heard Neji scream and had woken Hinata. They had been shaking him, trying to wake him up from the nightmare that plagued him. He flailed about in the nightmare's grip. Then he stopped, his eyelids flickered for a moment then they closed completely. He grew almost totally still. His breathing slowed to below normal and when Hinata felt his heart it beat slowly. He had had a relapse. In a matter of seconds his condition had changed from recovering to close to death's door.

**Oh no, will Neji be alright?**


	7. Chapter 7

This is last chapter…

**This is last chapter…**

Tenten ran to the doctor's, he was just down the hall. Desperately, she pounded on his door and sobbed.

"Come, please hurry. Please! He could be dying." The doctor opened the door and caught Tenten as she sagged forward. She straightened herself up and dragged him to Neji's room. She pushed open the door and pulled him inside and toward the bed. Hinata knelt by the bed and still tried to wake him. The doctor took control of the situation rapidly. He called out instructions and Hinata and Tenten rushed to obey them.

"Water, a glass of cold water!" Hinata grabbed a glass of cold water and rushed it to him. He took it quickly.

"A cloth, something soft!" Tenten grabbed a cloth and shoved it at him. Carefully, he wet the cloth and put it over Neji's forehead. He rubbed his hands and tried to bring him round naturally. Then he gathered his chakra in his right hand and shoved it into Neji's chest over his heart. He continued to pour chakra into him until his breathing became more natural. He pulled the cloth off his head and put a hand a few inches above Neji's mouth. He felt his breath coming normally. Tenten and Hinata watched with bated breath. Tenten was crying and Hinata twisted her hands nervously in her lap. His eyes opened and he looked around with the usual panic. He recognized his surroundings and lay still. The doctor slumped slightly, Hinata rushed to get him a glass of water. He drank it all then looked down at his patient. Tenten was bending over him and shaking. Neji looked apologetic.

"I'm afraid I dragged all of you from your beds just for my nightmare." He smiled grimly, "I'm afraid I'm rather pathetic, a nightmare causes me to lose consciousness. I'm useless." His cousin shook her head vigorously.

"You're not useless. As I told you yesterday if you wake up screaming or pass out from reliving something like that then it's your right. And as for dragging us from our beds that was only because we care about you. We wouldn't let you die, it wasn't a problem to wake up at a time like this for you." She hugged him. Tenten thanked the doctor with tears in her eyes. The doctor gruffly mumbled that it wasn't an issue and left. His eyes were slightly damp as well. Neji smiled at them. They pulled up chairs and watched him until he fell asleep again. When he was sleeping his face was relaxed and free of the cold anger that made him so many enemies. When it was evident that he would be all right Hinata and Tenten returned to their makeshift beds. He slept quietly and without nightmares for the rest of the night. In the morning they all slept late. Hinata was awakened by a loud knock on the door. Tenten and Neji woke up as well. The knocking continued. Groggily, Hinata went to the door and opened it. Her little sister stood in the doorway. Hanabi smiled like a little kid at her older sister.

"Can I play too, Hinata?" Tenten came to the door also.

"Wow, she looks just like both of you." She covered her mouth with one hand as all three Hyuuga glared at her. "Was that an insult? Whoops." Neji responded first and even though his voice was still weak and tired he was able to put sarcasm into it.

"Oh no, of course not. It's been my life's ambition to look like Hinata's bratty younger sister. I always wanted to."

"I don't look like him!" Hanabi yelled as she pointed contemptuously toward the bed. Hinata looked disgusted with her sister's behavior.

"Hanabi," she said firmly, "Neji is our cousin and our older cousin too. Also he's not in the best of health right now. You really should, no, need, to be a whole lot more respectful to him. Alright?"

Hanabi responded quickly and with an air of self-importance. "Father says he's only a Branch Family member.' She put an incredible amount of scorn into the word "branch". "He's inferior to us. So I can say whatever I want about him." Hinata angrily slammed the door in her face. The doorknob rattled furiously as Hanabi tried to open it. Hinata shoved a chair under the handle. It held true.

"It's going to be a long day. She'll probably stay out there all day long if I know my little sister." Neji grinned but then another thought crossed his mind.

"Hinata, what if you father comes?" the girl chuckled.

"If father comes then I'll politely tell him that you got really sick during the night and we don't want him or Hanabi to catch it. Me and Tenten already may have caught it so we can't come." They all laughed as the sunlight shone in and reflected off Neji's headband.

**So that was the end… Did you like it? **


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